With U.S. mortgage rates lowering and rents set to increase with an upshoot in occupancy rates, real estate agents are proclaiming now is the time to buy a home. However, you can make an equally strong case for renting, according to the New York Times. In fact, it’s a pretty close race. Neither mortgage rates nor rents are likely to quickly sky-rocket and house prices remain higher than their long term average. The relative merits of renting and buying have not been so equal since the beginning of the housing bubble, a decade ago. [more]

The fun may be over for New York City renters, according to the Wall Street Journal, who have enjoyed lowered rates thanks to a glut of inventory and rising vacancies across the city. Even though New York City apartment vacancies continued to climb in the beginning of the year, some property managers say they no longer have to pay broker fees or offer other incentives to lure renters. Also on landlords’ side are statistics — the 20 to 34 age group, which many identify as the prime renting market, is slated to grow by about five million over the next 10 years. Some brokers even say that they’re noticing small increases in rents so far this year.

In order to attract commercial tenants, landlords are cutting rent,
offering incentives and trying to appeal to a wider audience of
businesses. The managers of the Fashion Tower, at 499 Seventh Avenue,
have shed the name of the building and now refer to it by its address
alone, hoping the property won’t be pigeonholed as a single
tenant-type tower. At 650 Madison Avenue, the landlord dropped the
asking rent to $85 per square foot from $100, and broke floors into
smaller office suites. And many companies offering sublease space are
handing over fully furnished offices. Average Manhattan asking rents
are down 11 percent from their peak last year, to $65 a square foot,
but brokers say the amounts that landlords are actually accepting have
plunged by between 25 percent and 30 percent. [more]

Bond launches commercial division
Before working with a commercial broker, I ask them whether [they] know the following terms: LIBOR, cap rate expansion/compression [and] DHCR. If they aren’t familiar with all three — then I [would] move on. Too many brokers think you can apply a dollar-per-square-foot price to anything just like it’s a cookie-cutter condo. Comments

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